The leaked tape, apparently recorded last year in the office of now-president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, includes a discussion about funds that the Gulf kingdom donated to a grassroots campaign fomenting protests against former president Mohamed Morsi.

The demonstrations on June 30 were among the biggest to ever take place in Egypt, and are often cited by Mr Sisi’s government as proof that Egyptians wanted the army to take over.

On July 3, it ordered Mr Morsi’s arrest, catalysing the bloodiest summer in Egypt’s modern history.

The tape appears to reveal Mr Sisi’s office manager General Abbas Kamel telling General Sedky Sobhy, now Egypt’s defence minister, to take money from a bank account that had been used in the run-up to Mr Morsi’s overthrow.

“Sir, we will need 200 tomorrow from Tamarod’s account – you know, the part from the UAE, which they transferred,” he says.

Tamarod, or ’Rebel’. enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame in the spring of 2013, with a signature campaign calling for mass protests against Mr Morsi.

If genuine, the new audio recording would provide the most compelling evidence yet that Mr Morsi’s ouster was pre-planned by the military, with the help of Gulf allies hostile to the Muslim Brotherhood.

The recording is one of several obtained by an Istanbul-based television channel sympathetic to Mr Morsi. Although the presidency has remained tight lipped on their authenticity, a British speech analysis company recently said that it believed a recent tape to be authentic.

Later in the tape, Gen Kamel can apparently be heard telling Mr Sisi that a UAE delegation will accompany former British prime minister Tony Blairon a visit to Cairo.

Mr Blair has reportedly agreed to advise the Egyptian government as part of a UAE-funded programme promising to deliver huge “business opportunities”.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia have thrown their weight behind Mr Sisi’s government as a bulwark against what they perceive as the Islamist fanaticism of the Muslim Brotherhood. Sunday night’s leak was broadcast as Mr Sisi visited Riyadh to discuss regional issues at a time of unprecedented turmoil in the Middle East.

When asked about the source of previous leaked recordings, Mohamed Hassanein Heikal, a journalist close to senior Egyptian defence officials said that “absolutely everything is under surveillance.” “Everyone records during the time of chaos.”